Twelve Turns, Eleven Cars: PCA Road Atlanta

On a recent Wednesday afternoon a bevy of transporters lined up outside the Road Atlanta gates under clear blue skies and cool temps. The trucks and trailers carried a wide assortment of Porsches, and the PCA regulars soon to pilot them climbed down from their trucks to greet each other and chat easily over the quiet diesel Audi prototype circling the track a few final times. The Autometrics Motorsports crew, too, gathered at the fence, debated whether the prototype was running the full course or not (it was running consistent, low 1:09s), and wondered aloud at the weekend’s wet weather forecast. Then we got down to the most important matter at hand and talked trash about each other’s personal street cars.

It was the perfect start to a weekend.

Soon the gates would open, the four Autometrics Motorsports transporters would open to reveal eleven track-prepped Porsches. Canopies would go up, fuel drums would be filled, and seemingly endless stacks of dry and wet weather tires would grow like weeds at the corners of our paddock space.

Thursday broke clear and cold. The stacks of dry tires shrank to the sound of the air guns, and the coffee pot emptied long before the first green flag. When the noise restriction lifted at 8am, Craig Finley’s GT3 Cup shattered the silence. Recently freshened after long storage and updated with paddle shifters, the car took to the track for a full evaluation by team driver Cory Friedman. A few adjustments later the silver, grey and red machine turned through 10a and 10b, level, loud and fast. Cory then switched to Joe Toussaint’s recently re-engined 996 GT3 RS. A few shakedown laps clicked by. A few changes were made. Then 10a and 10b again witnessed a level, loud and fast Autometrics Motorsports car. This one was silver, red and blue and just lifted its inside front wheel at the exit of 10b.

By Friday morning the whole circus had come to town and the paddock filled with competitors. Also rain. Not that it mattered to Jim Leslie. In his first appearance with Autometrics and his first event at Road Atlanta, Leslie went out every session and ceaselessly refined his racing line and braking points.

All of the Autometrics Motorsports drivers and crew, in fact, danced with the rain in one form or another all weekend. Tires changed from wet to dry and back again. The dry racing line came and went; appearing in some turns while puddles appeared in others. It was a wild weather weekend. It was also incredibly fun. And despite several accidents that, unfortunately, inflicted serious damage to many a PCA competitor’s car, the Autometrics Motorsports stable saw just two incidents all weekend. Neither accident was terribly serious.

Please see below for full results and a detailed photo gallery of the on track action. And, as always, please contact us for all of your Porsche needs.